THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, JUNE 22, 1909. AMERICAN TRUSTS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9223, 22 June 1909, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, JUNE 22, 1909. AMERICAN TRUSTS.

If an American trust were formed for the purpose of constructing, equipping and manning a squadron of the latest type of armoured cruisers with the object of carrying on the ordinary business of a pirate on the high seas Congress would possibly intervene with a prohibition. But in spite of all the fulminationa of ex-Frasi-dent Roosevelt and President • Taft trusts which have been formed to despoil the general public continue to conduct their operations under the Stars and Stripes, while the only flag to indicate truly the nature of their business would be the "Jolly Roger." Recently it was announced that the firms comprised in the Chicago Meat Trust had forced the price of lamb chops up to Is s£d per lb, with the result that poor people were no longer able to buy meat, and the small retailers were closing their shops. Then comes the news that the Beef Trust, which has already acquired the principal meat plants in Argentine, is negotiating for the acquirement of the remainder, and is considering whether it will pur chase them or crush them out of existence by its competition. Steps are to be taken also it seema to enclose in the grip of the Beef Trust the supplies of meat from Australia and New Zealand. If all these negotiations should be successful the Beef Trust would control a very large part of the world's meat supply, and would be able to dictate prices not only in the United States but to some extent in Europe. Mr batten's operations in the wheat pit have already netted him a handsome fortune, and he has boasted that the future will yet see the people of Europe waiting in starving queues for their bread. The Standard Oil Trust viitually dictates the world's price for kerosene. Seeing that American operators can, in a sense, already keep the wage earners of the world in starvation and darkness by a few extra turns of the trust screw, it is about time that Congress adopted some more stringent punishment than the imposition of fines, which the trust magnates can at once pass on - to the consumers, \ or perhaps get remitted by a skil-

ful corporation lawyer securing a reversal of the original judicial decision by invoking the jurisdiction of the Appeal Courts. It is not difficult to see that this ruthless exploitation of tha masses cannot be allowed to continue indefinitely. Congress is already faied by the alternative of either enacting legislation sufficiently drastic to put a stop to this heartless juggling with the price of the people's food, or else of having to cope with civil disturbances of an unprecedented nature. Mr Patten is protected by Pinkerlon police when he takes his walks abroad, and doubtless the individuals who i compose the Beef Trust are similarly j guarded. But the relations between labour and capital cannot be adjusted permanently on a basis of armed hostility. An economic system that can only be maintainec 1 by the assistance of private armies of Pinkerton police may flourish for a time, but if history is any guide to the actions of humanity under the spoliation of oppressors, that time wiil be short. President Taft went into office on the crest of a Rooseveltian wave. He was the exponent of the "Roosevelt policies," consequently the avowed foe of the whole system of plundering by the trusts. But now, when Mr LCoosevelt is buried in Darkest Africa, where he divides his time between shooting lions and writing articles in the "Outlook" in praise of "the square deal" the trusts are more busily engaged than ever in flagrantly despoiling the, defenceless public, robbing the of meat altogether, and. reducing the size of his crust of bread. The system of cornering the food supplies has ceased to be a matter of concern only for the people of the United States. It threatens the wage earners and the consumers of all in every land. Theoretically, under this trust system, a few dozen or a few score of multimillionaires might control the sale of every commodity from beef to boot-leather, and from blankets to electricity, that civilised man requires. Civilised man cannot contemplate the prospect with equanimity, and is waiting with evergrowing impatience to see whether President Taft can redeem the voluminous pledges that he gave daring his Presidential campaign on the subject of the effective control of trusts and combines.